Chewing gum



UNITED STATESVPATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. BERG,

NEW JERSEY, AND ERNEST F. MB,

HEALTH PRODUCTS CORPORATION, OF N EWARK, NEW JERSEY. I

. No Drawing.

or soon; omen, AND RAYMOND c. wrrrrnm, or crra'rrmn;

OI ASTORIA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION 01 cnnwme Gum.

Application filed April 22, 1926. Serial No. 103,909;

This invention relates to a new and improved chewing gum and to a method of manufacturing the same.

More particularly,

the invention relates to medicated chewing that is, chewing drcmal o r pharmaceutical preparations, such. as laxatives, etc.

gum containing me- A. particularly valuable and advantageous embodiment of the mvention is a laxative chewing gum containing phenolphthalein a novel and advantageous manner.

According to phenolphthalein pounds, is

incorporated therein in the present invention, the or other medicinal comfirst' prepared in-the form of small pellets which are made sufficiently firm or hard or are provided with a sufficiently hard coating to withstand intermixture with the chewing gum without disintegration or breaking up of the pellets; and these pellets are then intermixed with the chewing gum and distributed throughout the chewing gum in a substantially uniform manner and the chewing gum is then of the desired s also advantageously coating. I V

The pellets fabricatedinto pieces The chewing gum is provided with a candy ize.

which are incorporated with the chewing gum may themselves be made in various Ways,

such as ways familiar to the manufacturer of pills and pellets. Instead however, of being soft such that they crush and disintegrate,

chewing gum without gration. is to start with say between No.

crumble or disintegrate,

they or provided with a hard that they will not readily but so that they will admixture with the withstand handling and uniform crystals of sugar, 20 and No. 30 mesh, and

build up the crystals to pellets of the required size in a rotating coating pan by the addition of phenolphthalein e. g. in one or another of its various and by evapora syrup. That is,

forms and syrup tion of the water of the during the building up operation the rotating granules are wet with small quantities of sugar syrup or water and as the phenolphthalein is added it adheres to the crystals and they are gradually built up during addition of the p the rotatin henolp thalein. The gran- 7 operation by the objectionable disinte- One method of making the pellets water and the production of the granules.

The granules may be given an outer coating or shell of sugar by applying syrup after the phenolphthalein is added and by continuing the building-up operation in this way.

Another method of forming the pellets is to form the phenolphthalein or other medicinal compound into a paste or plastic mass suitable forextrusion, then to extrude this mass and out off the extruded massinto particles or pellets, then, after drying, place the particles thus formed in a rotating coating pan and applying syrup thereto with evaporation of the water and formation of a sugar coating of the desired thickness so that the pellets will withstand subsequent handling and ing the phenolphthalein, and which is extruded to form the ranules, may be a paste containing phenol thalein, glucose, gum arabic, etc., in suita le proportions to permit it to be extruded, and, upon subsequent dry ing, to form dried particles of proper size for subsequent coating. themselves sufliciently hard without an added coating, the coating may be dispensed with, but otherwise it is advantageous to apply a hard outer coating to the. granules to g ve them added hardness to withstand he mixing operation when they are mixed with the chewing gum.

The granules produced may vary somewhat in size, but this can readily be taken care of by sifting the granules" and using those of uniform size, for example, a size of about inch in diameter or less; although it will be evident that the size of the granules or pellets can be varied somewhat and a somewhat larger or a somewhat smaller size. employed. In general, it is advantageous in any particular batch of chewing gum and in commercial manufacture to use a substantially uniform size. Particles or pellets which are too large or too small can be ground up and used over again in the production 'of additional pellets.

In the manufacture of the new chewing If the granules are use. The plastic mass contain- '7 gum, the chicle and other ingredients which go to make up the base of the chewing gum, are separately prepared and admixed and the chewing gum manufacture is carried to a point where the main manufacturing operation or cooking the mixture and incorporating most. of the ingredients is completed, so that the incorporation of the pellets is at a stage of the manufacture near the end where the gum is subjected to a minimum of subsequent operations after the pellets are incorporated. This incorporation can advantageously beeifected in the kettles after the ingredients are compounded and cooked and shortly before the mixture is to be emptied from the kettles.

The pellets can then be added in desired amount and thoroughly incorporated with the gum by stirring or mixing. In this way the pellets can be distributed with substantial uniformity throughout the entire mass of gum. The pellets, as abo ve noted, are advantageously sufiicientlyhard so thatthey are not crumbled or broken up-during this mixing operation, but so that they retain their pellet form after admixture. The gum with the pellets incorporated therein can then be sheeted, scored, and subsequently treated, as by sugar coating, to form the finished'chewing gum. 1

The invention will be further illustrated by the following specific description but ,the invention is not limited thereto.

The chewinggum base may be prepared as follows: Raw chicle is melted and filtered to remove moisture and foreign matter. The filtered chicle is again melted in con- 'unction with other resinous compounds.

he mixture thus obtained is added to corn syrup in a steam jacketed mixer supplied with blades which rotate the entire operation. The corn syrup has previousl means 0 steam, which latter is shut off when the gum mixture is added. Gum scrap is next charged into the mixer and,

when the scrap has melted, and the entire' mass has been thoroughly mixed, su 'ar, the granules containing phenolphthalein, and oil of peppermint are added. The batch is then kneaded until uniforml mixed, that is, until the granules are uni ormly-distributed throughout the batch. It is then removed from the mixer and cut in the form of loaves or sheets for cooling. When sufiiciently cooled, the loaves are put through the rolling and scoring machine. That is, the loaves when sufiiciently cooled are fed into a hopper and forced by means of a worm screw drive through the hopper as a continuous stri or ribbon. This strip or .ribbon of gum is carried between a series of metal rollers which compress the gum into the desired thickness and width. The resulting sheet ..is next passed to the scoring peppermint ma constantly during been heated in the mixer by.

roller which cuts the gum into strips of proper width and then to the final roller wise scorin The 11m stri ,has now been scored in its final form and is then placed in a revolving pan which when rotated will break the gum up into small pieces suitable for use as centers in making coated chewing gum.

In making coated chewing gum, the gum centers, prepared as above described, 'are placed in revolving pans and are first dampened with a solution of sugar and gum arabic, or other suitable solution. A sprlnkling of dry sugar serves to prevent sticking of the pieces of gum together and also tends to fill up the uneven spaces in the gum. Further drying of theadded sugar solution is effected, by a, current of air. The above wetting operation, coupled with further additions of dry sugar, is repeated until the required size and color are reached. During the first wettings of thefgum centers with 'the syrup, a portion of the oil of be added, the remainder of the charge 0 oil being added during the last additions of syrup. Where other flavor ing than peppermint is used, it may be similarly added. When the pieces have been coated to the desired extent, and have been colored ifdesired by the addition of suitable coloring, or by the use of a syrup with the coloring matter therein, they are set aside -for thorough drying and are then ready for packaging.

It will be evident that different compounds ma be employed for the chewing gum base, 0 icle being usually .employedtogether with other gums and resins to g ve proper cbnsistency. The 'cookmg and mixing of the gum ingredients with glucose and with added sugar is advantageously completed before the granules or pellets are added; and these granules or pellets are added .before the last addition of sugar, which is then added together with flavoring, and the chewinggum subjected to its final mixing operation to incorporate the added pellets in a substantially uniform and thorough manner. I I

The resulting chewing gum presents the advantage or substantial uniformity in the amount of phenolphthalein or other medicinal preparations which it contains for. the

reason that the pellets 0r granules employed can be added for a definite weight of gum form of granules, gives In this manner,

batch; and the pellets can then be distributed throu bout the gum mass in a substantially uni orm manner by the mixing operation. v As a result, each piece of gum will contain substantially the same amount of phenolphthalein only very small variations in phenolphthalein content being found upon investigation of successive batches and pieces of gum, so that, for practical purposes, the different pieces of gum will contain the same amount of \phenolphthalein.

Furthermore, the finished gum will contain the phenolphthalein or. other medica; discrete granules or ment in the form of pellets which, as the gum is chewed, will be.

broken and separted from the gum and incorporated with the saliva. The "gum so obtained hasbeen found to permit of ready ingestion of the medicament. It appears that'when the gum, containing granules or pellets uniformly distributed therein, is chewed the teeth crush the granules so that they are exposed to the action of. the saliva. the individual granules or pellets are progressively crushed and exposed and made readily available; Further chewing crushes and opens up additional granules and mass of medicament as distinguished from a gum containing finely divided particles of mediament wherein each rounded and protected by a relatively large mass of gum.

The provision of an outer candy coating, together with the incorporation of the phenolphthalein in the gum centers in the a composite product which, when chewed, will separate the outer candy coating at thesame time that the granules are separated. That is, as a piece of gum with the outer candy coating is coatin chewed, the candy coating will be crushed and broken up by .the chewing, i and this chewing will also break up and separate from the gum centers, containing the phenolphthalein, so that the phenolphthalein can be readily separated in this way from the gum, or can for the most part be separatedin this way during the preliminary period of chewing of the gum.

. The present vantages in manufacture, tion in cost of incorporation of the phenolphthalein and less difliculty in the sugar of the .gum centers, as, compared with t e manufacture of coated gum where the phenolphthalein is added asa part of the ,coatingimmediat'ely around the gum centers and before the final candy coating is added. The process also resents the advantage of substantially uni orm distribution of the phenolphthalein throughout the gum centers, thus insurin a substantially uniform laxative action 0 different pieces; of gum.

reason that t lets serves to exposes a relatively large fine particle is surv f specific procedure involve the individual granules.

invention also presents 'adincluding reducf includes the incorporation of the medicament or harmaceutical preparation into the gum in t e form of discrete pellets irrespective of whether the compound employed is soluble orinsoluble.

The incorporation of the medicinal or harmaceutical preparation in the form of pellets has the advantage among others of protecting the material inthe pellets from the high tem erature of the gum, for the e pellets are added shortly before the gum is removed from the'mixer and cooled and the outer coating of the pelrotect the inner portion thereof from be ng heatedto an objectionably high temperature. Substances which would be injured or destroyed in their medicinal or other action by mixing them directly with .the gum can be advantageously admixed in the form of pellets. This method of incorporation is advantageous for substances such as pepsin, etc. and an improved pepsin chewing gum can be made in this way, in which the pepsin has not been injured objectionably by exposure to elevated temperatures during the gum manufacture. It will be evident that variations can be made in the method of manufacture of the pellets or granules as Well as in their size, and also in the particular formula and com, position of the chewing um base and the d in the incorporation of the granules with the chewing gum base, without departing from the invention.

We claim: 1. A chewing gum comprising a chewing gum base having incorporated therein a medicinal preparation in the form of pellets distributed in a substantially uniform manner throughout the chewing gumbase.

2. A chewing gum comprising a chewing gum base having incorporated therein-small pellets containing phenolphthalein, said pellets being distributed throughout the chewing gum base in a substantially uniform manner,

3. A chewing gum comprising a chewing gum base having incorporated therein pellets containing phenolphthalein, said pellets having a hard outer surface and a softer'interior.

4. The improvement in the manufacture of chewing gum which comprises incorporating in the chewing gum base small pellets havin a sufiicient hardness to resist crushing during the corporating-operation,

and, after such pellets have been uniformly incorporated with and distributed throughout the chewing gum base, forming the resulting gum into pieces of suitable size for chewing, the individual pellets so incorporated containing a medlcinal or pharmaceutical preparation.

5. The improvement in the manufacture of chewin gum which comprises incorporating in t e chewing gum base small pellets having a sufiicient hardness to resist crushing during the corporating operation, and, after such pellets have been uniformly incorporated with and distributed throughout the chewing gum base, forming the resultinggum into pieces of suitable size for chewing, the individual pellets so incorporated'containing phenolphthalein'.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

WM. H. BERG. RAYMOND C. "WHITMAN. ERNEST F. AAB. 

